[Sparkle]

Also, what I find particularly worrying about this situation is that it's going to be near impossible to address.
The fundamental reason these people hate the police, is that most if not all have had run-ins with the police because its the job of the police to curb their criminal activities.

I've seen plenty of interviews with locals claiming that it's the police's fault for not listening to the local yoofs. I'd say the majority get "stop and searched" because the police have good reason to.

The only solutions I can see are as follows.
Lock'em all up.
pro- gets them off the street; contains the problem.
con- financially unworkable, and unless they're going to be permanently incarcerated, they'll just come out hardened criminals. Prison (in it's current form) isn't really a deterrent to these thugs.

Make prison a deterrent (or set up work camps)
pro- some reduction in crime
con- current human rights laws might be a problem. These thugs aren't intelligent enough to realise that they will eventually get caught.

Get them into work
pro- gives them something to lose
con- takes jobs away from those more deserving. Unlikely to successful as these people appear quite set in their ways.

I think this problem is a classic example of "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."
I think "the ounce of prevention" would have been discipline and education at a young age. As the horse has already bolted so to speak, getting these people to rehabilitate might be an almost superhuman undertaking.

Even if water cannon and rubber bullets are employed, it still doesn't address the underlying core problems - which as mentioned above will remain until the security services are stretched, only to reappear.

---------- Post added at 13:08 ---------- Previous post was at 13:07 ----------

Thanks Gary !